TechByter Worldwide (formerly Technology Corner) with Bill Blinn

Problems that once seemed to be Vista related turn out to be hardware defects, PayPay offers a quiz, and in Nerdly News Seagate ships infected Maxtor drives and hacked sites on MySpace send unwitting victims to China.

The latest version of Ubuntu is the easiest Linux ever to install and might be the one that attracts a wider group of users. The Storm worm is new again, but certainly not improved. Now spammers are trying some direct marketing tricks. In Nerdly News, the Iphone invades Europe and Nigerians have a new twist on an old scam.

You know they're important, but updates still get in the way. Seagate's latest "bargain" drives may not be such a bargain, after all. This is election week, so please remember to vote. In Nerdly News, I have information about a Mac attack and an operating system that's not Microsoft or Apple.

I hadn't planned to take the week "off", but that seems to be what's happening, so it's a very short program.

If a picture is worth 1000 words, it seems that we should protect the picture. And the word. I'll explain how I protected pictures from a wedding I photographed last week. I have a quick preview of Apple's Leopard, criticism of Apple by Greenpeace, a stupid spam, and (in Nerdly News) MP3 spam and Google's continued success on Wall Street.

Questions range from backup problems to missing power supplies, from plugged-in laptops to shut down problems In Nerdly News, an Internet Explorer free for all and another suit for Apple.

Process Explorer tells you what's running, how much of your system's resources each process is using, and which applications have what files open. Excel 2007 seems to have a bit of a problem with math. Similar spams arrived this week by e-mail and fax. In Nerdly News, the Department of Homeland Security pulls a boner and crows start making tools.

The Ultimate Troubleshooter has a new and improved version out; COTA's website isn't as bad at is seemed, but it still has problems; problems I initially attributed to Vista may have been hardware or drivers; this week's stupid spam is blatantly idiotic; and in Nerdly News, I have the story about Verizon trying to stifle political speech and information about Microsoft's plans to out-Google Google...

Another look at the importance of backup, why local companies often build the best computers, and how Microsoft's Sync Toy can keep your buns from being toasted. In Nerdly News, we note the passing of Times Select and IBM's new "open" policies.

Adobe Photoshop CS3 adds features that resemble magic, I cast an evil eye on the Central Ohio Transit Authority's website and question the attention span of some tech support workers. In Nerdly News, more about the Iphone and a State Department computer has been hacked.

Adobe InDesign CS3 earns 5 cats. We'll answer questions about the Storm worm and about a spammer that's disguised as a soccial networking site. The stupid spam of the week is laughable and in Nerdly News there's a story about indignant Iphone buyers.

After using Vista for 90 days I've found features to love and features to loathe. The Outlook component of Office 2007 brings some new features and drops some. The Storm botnet continues to try to take over every computer on the planet. And in place of Nerdly News three bits of Surly News this week.

A spam I received this week is particularly dangerous because of its social engineering components. If you need to extract text from a PDF, you no longer need the full version of Adobe Acrobat. I have another stupid spam of the week and in Nerdly News there's a Monster hack, an Iphone hack, and a Blockbuster buster.

Is Google trying to commit suicide slowly? I'll show you a spam that you probably wouldn't fall for, and I'll take a look at what appears to be the conclusion of nearly 4 years of trouble with Wide Open West. In Nerdly News, I have a Nokia battery recall, the 10th anniversary of Deep Blue's victory, and bad news about high-speed Internet service.

Sometimes a screen capture is the best way to illustrate something and I'll show you the best screen capture program available as well as a respectable one that's free. Apple would like you to install Safari on your Windows computer. Don't. I have another incredibly stupid spam and in Nerdly News I'll talk about the latest skirmish between Netflix and Blockbuster, music without copy protection, an...

It's difficult to beat WinZip, but if you need a free file compression utility, you have a surprisingly wide choice. Can a magic keystroke reboot Windows? How can I hear the BBC on my computer? Is it safe to leave a computer in the car? In Nerdly news 30 years in prison for a man who ran an Internet "pharmacy", Microsoft thinks about a free office suite, and the film industry once again shoots its...

After 21 years, IDE technology is being abandoned by disk manufacturers in favor of newer and faster SATA technology. I have an interim report on Vista (still liking the way it works) and a look at the battle between Netflix and Blockbuster. Instead of Nerdly News, this week I have stupid roadblocks, stupid spam, and stupid Mozilla mistakes.

More than half of all photographic prints now come from digital camera. More than half of the cameras in circulation have been digital cameras for quite some time and on-line serives make sharing your pictures easy. If you have a newsletter, such as the TechByter Worldwide weekly newsletter, you'll want to take a look at Your Mailing List Provider. In Nerdly News, the worm turns for the RIAA, a qu...

Excel 2007 is part of Microsoft's latest office suite and if you've ever been bothered by limitations of Excel 2003, you'll be in line to buy Excel 2007. Sometimes even a pack rat like me says "Enough is enough!" But what then? Internet (music) radio will survive the weekend. In Nerdly News, we have possibly the worst phishing e-mail ever and a delay that doesn't sound like a delay.

Have a digital image that you'd like to convert to fine art? If so, you'll want to take a look at Alien Skin's Snap Art. Instant messaging continues to spread, even among old folks over 40, and I'll take a look at 2 of the better applications. Adobe's CS3 is out and this time I've described Acrobat and Bridge. In Nerdly News, the demise of AllOfMP3, Adobe puts the brakes on Vista, and the Iphone f...

Fraud may arrive in your inbox as a card that claims to be from a friend or family member or as a warning against fraud. In some cases, fraud reaches out to you when you're trying to buy something. In Nerdly News, we have $250 laptops, resolution of the lawsuits between Netflix and Blockbuster, and electrical problems for the National Security Agency.

Microsoft Word 2007 is unlike any previous version of Word in many ways and most of the changes make the program more usable. As I continue working with Vista, I find features to like and others--well, not so much. A near disaster underlines the need for backup. Nerdly News considers cost and price of storage and Computerworld says OCLC is a good place to work.

My apologies for the audio quality, which is a bit substandard this week. Pandora's Box is yet another way to kill radio, I explain how to ruin a photograph. In Nerdly News, I have a quick Windows Vista update, thanks to Adobe, and why you shouldn't put your keyboard in the dishwasher.

The show is a little late today because of technical difficulties: I've installed Vista and can give you a quick look at what's new. In digital photography, more pixels doesn't equate to better quality. I have a quick report on the changing face of spam. Nerdly news looks at Apple TV, NetFlix and Amazon, and some upcoming reviews on TechByter Worldwide.

Here's a quick first look at Office 2007 and a more detailed look at Office Publisher. Then it's off to New York City for a trip to the Big Apple Apple Store (and a reminder about the advantages of staying in Harlem.) In Nerdly News, a big spammer is in the slammer and one stage really is large enough for Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.